In a blow to every corrupt politician or bureaucrat shielded by the executive's unwillingness to let them stand trial, the Supreme Court on Tuesday set a three-month deadline for governments to decide whether or not to grant sanction for prosecution under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
A Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and A.K. Ganguly was allowing a petition filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, who questioned the delay on the part of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the sanctioning authority, in granting sanction for prosecution of the former Telecom Minister, A. Raja, in the 2G spectrum allocation case.
The Bench gave two concurring judgments and held that Dr. Swamy had the locus standi to file a private complaint and seek sanction for prosecution. Justice Singhvi said: “Keeping in view the fact that the Special Judge, CBI, has already taken cognisance of the offences committed by Mr. A. Raja under the PC Act, we do not consider it necessary to give any other direction in the matter.”
Justice Singhvi held that had the Prime Minister been apprised of the true, factual and legal position on Dr. Swamy's representation, he would surely have taken an appropriate decision and would not have allowed the matter to linger for more than one year.
Justice Ganguly said: “Delay in granting sanction has spoilt many a valid prosecution and is adversely viewed in [the] public mind that in the name of considering a prayer for sanction, protection is given to a corrupt public official as a quid pro quo for services rendered by the official in the past or maybe [to be rendered] in the future and the sanctioning authority and the corrupt officials were or are partners in the same misdeeds.”
The Bench rejected Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati's argument that the question of grant of sanction for prosecution of a public servant charged with any of the offences enumerated under Section 19(1) would arise only when the court decided to take cognisance and any request made prior to that was premature.
Justice Singhvi, however, said: “At the same time, we deem it proper to observe that in future every competent authority shall take appropriate action on the representation made by a citizen for sanction of prosecution of a public servant strictly in accordance with the direction [of the Supreme Court] in [the case of] Vineet Narain vs Union of India and the guidelines framed by the Central Vigilance Commission. While considering the issue regarding grant or refusal of sanction, the only thing which the competent authority is required to see is whether the material placed by the complainant or the investigating agency prima facie discloses commission of an offence. The competent authority cannot undertake a detailed inquiry to decide whether or not the allegations made against the public servant are true.”
Justice Ganguly said: “Parliament should consider the constitutional imperative of Article 14 enshrining the rule of law wherein ‘due process of law' has been read into it by introducing a time limit in Section 19 of the P.C. Act 1988 for its working in a reasonable manner.” Making it clear that the power under Section 19 must be reasonably exercised, he said “Parliament and the appropriate authority must consider restructuring Section 19 of the P.C. Act in such a manner as to make it consonant with reason, justice and fair play.”
Keywords: Prevention of Corruption Act, sanction for prosecution, 2G case, spectrum scam, Subramanian Swamy, A. Raja, Supreme Court
He may be one man army and despite no support from either media or
any one, he is making every stone upturned for these corrupt people
and Congress's so called owners nehrus. But no body knows what will
be the consequence.May be the same will happen again as boffors or
we will see something to rejoice about latter. But one thing is
clear if you are selfless and fearless , you can make any corrupt
personalty standing in the court. Its just a matter of faith and
fearlessness. we all must support him and try never to alleviate
corruption by doing the part we can.
Welcome step by Supreme Court. This will at least keep corrupt officials in some fear. Speedy trials will further ensure that corruption becomes punishable in our country and honest public service becomes the norm, rather than an exception as is the case today.
It is a pleasure to salute the one man Army Subu Swamy for establishing the honest democratic process in India.Thanks to 'The Hindu' for edit and keeping the news on board.
"One man with courage is a majority." (Thomas Jefferson) Today Dr Subramanian Swamy is that man, as he makes history.
Kudos to S Swamy. He is single handedly fighting against the corrupt forces in India. He should fight & expose Jayalalitha as well to prove that is not partial.
Why there should be a political or executive permission required to prosecute a felon!!? That would be seen as a blatant invasion of the judiciary turf by the executive in most civilized democracies and certainly the public and the judiciary would be appalled when such an action is taken by any government!
The Supreme Court must now uphold the Constitutional Right of every Citizen for Timely
delivery of Justice. It must prescribe Strict Time limits for each level of the Judiciary within which Judgements must be delivered to citizens from the date of filing of their case. There are over 3.8 lakh cases pending in the Supreme Court & High Courts alone for over 10 years. Tens of thousands of citizens in India wait tearfully & helplessly for years & even decades & die without their pleas for Justice being heard in the Courts. The Justice delivery Record is an outrageous disgrace to civilized living.
This is a great irony of this country where the top politicians and
the bureaucrats have does not any strict control by the respective
Government. Everything has been made for their benefit and interpreted
for their well function. Mr. Swami is doing great & acting like a
responsible citizen of this motherland but do you think that judiciary
is independent??? It is always used by the ruling party; initially
they might seems against the Central Government but at last they with
the government. To check the corruption we must employ the quality
education AND values in the people. Our active and efficient youth should come forward and participate in the governance.
The PMO's defense in interpreting the observation of the Supreme Court, that "had the Prime Minister been apprised of the full facts of the case, he would have taken appropriate action", as the complete vindication of the PM by the "learned judges" is, to tell the least, highly unconvincing. The Prime Minister's own sliding statements on innocence of A.Raja and the coalition compulsions of the UPA are facts before us. That Raja found himself finally in Tihar jail itself shows that Subramanian Swamy's petition to the PM for sanction to prosecute the Minister is not merely a "minute detail" of the case which "the PM is not expected to personally look into". Or else, the PM owes an explanation to the people for maintaining an inefficient and corruption-prone Office for himself. Whether 90-120 days are too many or whether the very provision for prior sanction to prosecute public servants including politicians and bureaucrats is to be done away with are important points to ponder.
I salute Dr.Swamy for proving time and again the power of existing legal system to bring culprits to book if one persistently fights the case. He fights like a one man army and yet brings about Himalayan accomplishments which none of the political parties of repute has accomplished. I wonder what BJP has been doing all these years sitting in opposition benches.
"protection is given to a corrupt public official as a quid pro quo
for services rendered by the official in the past or maybe [to be
rendered] in the future and the sanctioning authority and the
corrupt officials were or are partners in the same misdeeds.” We are
highly indebted to the wisdom of highest court to drive home this
simple clear fact known even to a child. We have a shameless
Government needing Supreme Court to this fundamental fact. Going by
claim that the court has vindicated the government, it is apparent
that PMO thinks that people of this country are fools and unable to
understand the situation.
Dr MMS has all along been only observing 'ignoble silence'. Can we
believe that he did not know the happenings all along? In this
case I am proud of the SC judge who has shown great sense of justice
although he is showing great reticence to say that PM's office is at
fault and not the PM himself. PM is almost culpable of frustrating
justice by his delaying tactics.We must draw lessons from high
transparency levels, and daring media exposes in other countries.
This is the age of Wikileaks. No mysticism about rulers, or elected
representatives or people in authority. It is almost like every
emperor is naked!
This guy deserves to be the Principal Opposition, not the BJP!!!
It is very unfortunate that Mr. swamy is fighting like a one man army.
Though many of his complaints are upheld by the supreme court he is
neither having a due exposure in the media nor public followers. While
many of political parties including BJP are celebrating the out come
each supreme court orders, none of them are giving due credit to Mr.
Swamy for his lonely fight against corruption and nepotism.
All that is said by the court is good but does it work ? Corrupt
people who have money, go from court to court , with innumerable
adjournments which the judges allow, and finally go scot free because
the judges interpret the rule differently. In a large democracy
like ours, quick judgments and punishments are impossible.Hence let
us not get too excited about these rare utterences by the apex
court.
I propose that laws of land must apply to all irrespective of position they hold. This is anachronic and incestuos practice to get an approval from a higher executive authority when police/ investigating agency has eshtablished that a crime has been committed, and laws of land voilated by a bureaucreat or civilian. While your article nicely sums up issues of conflict of interest, and dilatory attitude of those in authority to provide approval, it does not bring up the anachronistic and unjust nature of this practice. I can understand special position for president and high constitutional positions to enjoy special processes of impeachment, but in sweet country of ours all government servents are protected from law in the event they happen to be on wrong side of the it.
Hail the Supreme Court that gives such booster doses to our ailing democracy that is wildly abused by the vested interests that be.
Setting a deadline will improve the judicial process. We all know what has been happening in the past when there is no deadline, the case keeps on getting postponed; but now within three months all the corrupt cases should be dealt with strictly. Real demmocracy lies in equality before law. Now all the corrupt officials and ministers will have to face trial. If this was not done then for surety their cases would never have reached the court.
We are glad that the judiciary has realised the need for a time bound action for granting or refusing sanction for prosecution. Every thing in our country can be set right if the authorities concerned care to finalise them within a fixed time. We do not know why lakhs of people are held in detention even though their offence may be petty. For all these there needs commitment to one's duty, a little patriotic feeling and a will to do a thing. Every Govt office should be instructed to give replies to letters, applications etc submitted by citizens within a maximum time of one month...if not, reason for more time should be got sanctioned by higher authorities.
"Justice delayed is justice denied"
Here, the delay is due to indecisiveness of the Prime Minister.
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